PNW Tour Day 4

Good morning PUYALLUP!!!!!! (yes that's a real name of a real city..quite a growing city at that!)

After a quick breakfast and check out we head so Sumner, which is very close to Puyallup. It's a cool high fog sort of typical WA day but promises to be beautiful! We have been to the Cemetery in Sumner where my Dad and his family are buried a gazllion times and know exactly how to get there! BUT they are having some sort of "Sumner Celebration Day" LOL of course they are, we always run in to that.
But after a couple of turn arounds and an inquiry as to where the bridge that we want is (it's closed for the "Day") we find the beautiful old Sumner Cemetery.

In 1955 when I was only 14 years old I stood there in the cold and drizzle at the first funeral I had ever attended.

Where I grew up children just didn't go to funerals and there were no "visitations" except at people's homes perhaps.

Anyway, we visited my Dad's stone after purchasing some fresh flowers. My husband always cleans it up for me. His stone is very easy to find and it's rarely visited, except by my cousin, uncle and niece on Memorial Day I think. Unlike my Mom, who is buried here in TN and there are constant flowers and statues sitting there. Doesn't really make any difference to them I know but makes us feel better.
Didn't take the time to look for the other family stones. They are not people I was close to and we were wanting to move our day along!
So off to took to Gig Harbor Washington.
To get to Gig Harbor you must go over the Narrows Bridge and if your really interested in earthquakes and amazing sites you should "Google" it.. I love Narrows!
Gig Harbor is A beautiful place on a bay on Puget sound.

We met when we were in the 4th grade and have been the best of friends for all those years. She lived with my Mom for a while when she graduated from High School and was working in Tacoma. She considered my grandma, her grandma. Her mother and I shared a birthday and my tea set came from her.
Every birthday or Christmas she would give me a piece and I would add to it when I found a matching piece. Of course all our parents and grandparents are gone now but we are still as close as ever!
So to make a long story short I HAD to see my very best friend AND I had a birthday present for her. We grew up as genuine "country" girls. I'm sure we were not together constantly, but I can hardly have a memory of my "Lacamas" years without her being part of it. I had a photo of she and I that I loved.

It was so typical of us, we were always outside, always playing in the barn or with animals and especially ALWAYS playing with puppies! So I had this photo made in to a scetch for her and I had to get it to her.

So with a little help from our GPS we found their lovely little house with the most beautiful flowers right there in beautiful Gig Harbor.


We had a most lovely visit with her sweet husband Joel

and Kay and I was able to present her with her sketch! It almost brought us both to tears. It really is beautiful and special because it's us frozen in a time in our lives when everything was good, no hurt, no pain, no worry, just loving our friends and having fun riding the little Lacamas School Bus :)

BTW Kay was my maid of Honor at my wedding but because of my pregnancy with Suzanne (Kay) who was born 2 days later I could not be her maid of honor and that had always been our plan :(


So after we have a most pleasant hour or so with my darling Kay we take off to see another dear old friend. Back across the Narrows!


This friend is Shirley.

Now Shirley, Kay, Gena and I were like 3 peas in a pod in grade school and I've remained friends with all three but mostly Kay. It had been years since I'd seen Shirley and I was anxious to see her again.



She lives in Stielacoom Washington in the same house she's lived in her entire married life. A very pretty home but the steps would get to me and I think they get to Shirley and her very arthritic hips and knees. We had the best visit we could have.. Or we tried. She has a husband who makes everything about him so we sort of gave up and took a couple pictures and left. It was good to see Shirley again though, we have many fond memories. Shirley was also in my wedding 50 years ago.


So now were on the way to Marysville! Our goal today is to get to Nikki's house north of Seattle for dinner!

Seeing Tacoma and Seattle for the first time in many years was very special to me. My only regret was not going to the Church where we were married or to go to down town Tacoma. Tacoma is my home and where I grew up. It was the "City" to us as we grew up, Seattle was a place I really didn't know till I was thru school.

We were concerned that Seattle's traffic was going to be terrible because it was a Friday and rush hour and it was "SeaFair" weekend. As it turned out Tacoma was TERRIBLE and Seattle was wonderful and we zipped right up to Nikki's house in time for dinner!

It was so good to see all of them. I love this family so much, and new that I'd get some rest and be able to catch our breath a few days!